Improvement in toy cars and station



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 M. BRADLEY. Toy Cars and Station. No. 218,700. PatentedAug. 19,1879.

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a sheets-sheet 2. M. BRADLEY.

Toy Cars and Station. No. 218,700. Patented Aug. 19,1879.

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N. PETERS, PNo'ro-umosaAPHER, WASHINGTON D c 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 M.BRADLEY. Toy Cars and Station. No. 218,700. Patented-Aug. 19,1879.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MILTON BRADLEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN TOY CARS AND STATION.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 218,700, dated August19, 1879; application filed June 18, 1879. e

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MILTON BRADLEY, of Springfield, county of Hampden,and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inCombination Mechanical Toys, which improvements are fully set forth inthe annexed specification and in the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is the production of a variety of pieces oftoys capable of being assembled into different forms and differentarticles; and it consists in constructing wheel-trucks for cars andlocomotives and other parts of said articles, and pieces representing avariety of other carriages and objects, in and upon which are formedproper corresponding grooves and tongues, by means of which said partsmay be assembled together to form an iufinitevariety of objects for theamusement and instruction of children.

Referring to the "drawings, which consist of three sheets and nineteenfigures, Figure l is a view of a truck with a single groove in it. Fig.2 is a View of a truck with a variety of grooves therein. Fig. 3 is anend view of Fig. 4, which is a tongued-and-grooved bed piece. Fig. 5 isan end view of Fig. 6, which is a grooved cap-piece. Fig. 7 is an endview of Fig. 8, the latter being a side elevation of one of a series ofmenagerie-Wagons. Fig. 9 is a view of a railway-car. Fig. 10 is a viewof two of trucks, Fig. 2, united by connecting-strips inserted in thegrooves in the trucks. Fig. 11 is a side elevation of a locomotive. Fig.12 is a view of a railway-station. Fig. 13 shows two of trucks, Fig. 1,united with the bed-piece, Fig. 4, to form a carriage. Fig. 14 is a viewof a grooved corner post to car, Fig. 9. Fig. 15 is avieW of the endplatform to the car, Fig. 9, showing the end piece and corner postsetting thereon. Fig. 16 is an end elevation of the car, Fig. 9, withthe end and end platform removed. Fig. 17 is a side elevation of anengine-tender. Fig. 18 is an endview of a grooved molding, Fig. 19.

In the drawings, in Fig. 1, a is the truck, having a transverse groove,a. b b are the wheels. 0 is the axle. (Shown in dotted lines.) In Fig.2, a is the truck, having transverse grooves 0 therein, and alongitudinal groove,

0 on its sides. 61 d are the wheels, and the axle c is shown. in dottedlines. o is a vertical groove on one side.

In Fig. 4, f is the groove; f, the tongue, and g g the edges of thebed-piece. In Fig. 5 the grooves in the cap-piece are designated byfigures l 2 3. In Figs. 7 and Sis the cappiece, Fig. 5. h ,is arepresentation of a double-sided car-body or menagerie-cage. I

In Fig. 9, z is the roof to the car. j is the side. is is the end. I arecorner posts. m is the platform.

In Fig. 10, n are two strips fitting edgewise into grooves c in truck,Fig. 2. In Fig. 11, 0 is the forward, and 0 the rear, truck of therepresentation of a locomotive, said trucks be ing secured to abed-piece, Fig. 3, as heretofore described. 9 is the body of the engine.q is the cab, surmounted by a cap, Fig. 5. a" is a cow-catcher, and s isthe smoke-stack. t is a steam-dome. The parts 8 t q are united to thepart 19 by sections of the grooved molding, Figs. 18 and 19.

In Fig. 17, n represents the body of a locomotive-tender, with the toppiece a.

The railway station, Fig. 12, forms a box, whose cover hinges at theapex of the roof, arranged to contain several sets of car-trucks andother parts of the toy vehicles, and the several detached parts going tocomplete a locomotive and tender, as shown; also, variousinterchangeable parts are packed in said box, which, assembled with manyof the first-named parts, form vehicles of other and great variety ofinterest-ing combinations for the amusement and instruction of children.

The leading principle upon which my combination toys are constructed isthat of corresponding tongues, grooves, and edges formed on the variousparts, by means of which they are interchangeable, so as to form a greatvariety of vehicles other than those which represent simply arailway-train or a meuagerie.

In explanation of the foregoing I refer to Fig, 1, which shows atwo-wheeled truck. This truck is constructed of four parts-the body a,axle c, and wheels I). On the top of body ais cut a transverse groove,a. A hole is made through each of its down-projecting ends for theinsertion of the axle c, and the wheels are forced solidly onto the endsthereof, so that the wheels and axle revolve together.

The truck, Fig. 2, is of the same general construction as that shown inFig. l; but it is provided with more grooves, 0 across its top, avertical groove, 0 on one edge, and a longitudinal groove on its side.

The bed-piece, Figs. 3 and 4, is provided with a groove, f, of the samewidth as groove a in truck a, Fig. 1, and the tongue f, Figs. 3 and 4,is of the same thickness as the width of the said grooves a and f; also,the edges g g of the bed-piece, Figs. 3 and 4, are of the same thicknessas the said tongue f.

The cap-piece, Figs. 5 and 6, is provided with three longitudinalgrooves, as shown, one of which, 2, is of a uniform width with theabove-named grooves a and f in Figs. 1 and 3.

The representation of a mcnagerie-wagon, Fig. 8, of which Fig. 7 is anend elevation, is constructed by connecting two trucks, Fig. 1, by thebed-piece, Figs. 3 and 4, as shown in Fig. 13, inserting the piece h,having on its sides the representation of a cage, edgewise into groovef, Figs. 3 and 4, and by placing the cap-piece, Figs. 5 and 6, onto thetop edge of the latter, groove 2 fitting thereon. Thus, by havinganumber of trucks, bedpieces, and cap-pieces, and a variety of pieces,11, with representations of difl"erent animals in cages on the sidesthereof, a train of wagons representing a menagerie can be easily made.

The railway-car, Fig. 9, is constructed by inserting the edges of thecar sides j into the grooves in two of trucks, Fig. 2, nearest thewheels, putting the roof 2' onto said sides, with the top edges of thelatter in the grooves in said roof, as seen in Fig. 16, inserting theback edge of platform m in groove 0 in the side of truck a, placing theend kin the grooved strip on top of the platform, and putting in thegrooved corner-pieces I.

Fig. 10 shows a maner of constructing an ordinary four-wheeled truck, byinserting the edges of two strips, n n, into grooves on the top of twoof trucks, Fig. 2. Strips of other form, to fit the wider grooves shownon said trucks, are provided, so that other descriptions of carriagesmay be made.

Fig. 11 represents a locomotive, the trucks of which, 0 0', are madesubstantially like the truck, Fig. 1, only that one, 0, has largerwheels to represent driving-wheels. Upon said trucks is secured, by theton ge and groove above described, the bed-piece, Figs. 3 and 4, andupon one end, on the under side, is placed the cow-catcher r, of theusual form, as shown, having a groove in its highest point, into whichtongue f fits.

The body P of the engine, on the sides of which are printed or otherwiseformed representations of the steam-cylinder and other machinery parts,is of rectangular form, and of such a thickness as will cause it to fitedgewise into groove F in said bed-piece in the position shown.

Sections of the grooved molding, Figs. 18

and 19, are then placed on the top edge of said body P, and the smokestack 8, steamdome t, and cab q are inserted in the grooves on the upperside of said sections of moldings, Figs. 18 and 19; and upon the topedge of said cab is placed, by means of the groove 2 therein, a sectionof the cap-piece, Figs. 5 and 6. The enlarged upper end of the stack 8is grooved to fit onto the end of the latter.

The represention of an engine-tender, Fig. 17, is made by setting therectangular-shaped piece u, which represents the body, and on the sidesof which are printed or otherwise formed figures to imitate iron platesand rivets, edgewise into the grooves a of two of the trucks, Fig. 1,and by attaching piece u to its upper edge. Simple staple or otherconnections, for uniting several vehicles in a line, may be provided inthe ends of the bed-pieces, as shown in Fig. 11.

It will be seen that, by the employmentwith my grooved trucks, Figs. 1and 2, of pieces of such thickness as will allow of their being insertedeither edgewise or endwise into the grooves therein, a great variety offorms of vehicles may be interchangeably constructed therefrom.

When desired, pieces representing wagonshafts may be inserted endwiseinto the groove 0 in the truck-body a.

The parts of these combination-toys are simply and strongly made, andwell calculated for the use for which they are intended.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The combination of the grooved trucksand the'bed-piece provided with the tongue f and groove f, substantiallyas and for the purpose set forth.

2. Thecombination, with the grooved trucks, of the bed-piece providedwith the tongue f and groove f, the piece h, representing amenageric-cage or analogous object, and the cappiece, substantially asset forth.

3. The combination, with the grooved trucks, constructed as shown, ofconnecting-strips n, arranged to fit into said grooves, substantially asset forth.

4. The combination, with a one or more grooved truck-body, of an axle,c, inserted through said body, as shown, and having permanently fixedupon the ends thereof the wheels b b, substantially as described andshown.

5. The combination, with the grooved trucks, of the sides j, the roof 6,the ends k, and the grooved corners l, substantially as set forth.

6. The bed-piece constructed with its edges 9 g and tongue f ofcorresponding thickness, and having in it the groove f, whose width isequal to the thickness of said edges and tongue, substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

7. The combination of the grooved trucks 0 o, the tongued-and-groovedbed-piece, the cow-catcher r, and the superposed parts, as shown,representing a locomotive, substantially as set forth.

8. Aeombination-toy, representing alocomoof the bed-piece, the piece u,representing the tiveengine, tender, and railway-cars, formed body of anengine-tender, and the top piece of interchangeable parts, and a box,representu, substantially as described and shown.

in g arailwaystation for containingthe various MILTON BRADLEY. parts ofsaid vehicles, substantially as herein In presence ofshown anddescribed. GEO. H. IRELAND,

9. Thecombination,with the groovedtr-ucks, H. A. GHAPIN.

